Tanner, chapters 5-8


Curriculum Work Doesn’t Just Happen. . . .

I hope the “administrator” in you came out as you were reading Tanner (that wide-angle lens that looks beyond the immediate context you may find yourself in at this point and time). There is so much in the assigned readings that provides insights in the kinds of support structures needed to make authentic curriculum work a possibility.

With that in mind, I want you to explore what it would take to create the conditions in which active engagement in authentic curriculum work could emerge in a specific context – whether that’s a school, district, state, or other organization.

You can explore this from any of the following three directions. Feel free to choose one of the following for your response:

Supervision – This would include the manner in which teachers are supervised for development and assessment, professional development, etc.

Teacher Education – how preservice and/or alternatively certified teachers are prepared to teach.

Organizational Implications – what changes would need to be place in the school/district as an organization to support this kind of work.

Two points -

One suggestion made (and I agree) is to please end each response with your name to make it more personal as people respond. Some of the "Wiki names" are hard to translate into your real names.

Also - this is your space, so if you know of good resources (particularly in relation to supervision, teacher education, or organizational theory) feel free to upload them to this page).

The point in this conversation is to move beyond the abstract and to really attempt to carve out concrete means through which schools could move toward actual curriculum work. In the words of Pinky Dinky Doo (if you don’t have a toddler, then feel free to ignore this reference), “Think Big!”